TenneT has awarded the Van Oord-Hellenic Cables consortium the assignment to supply and install sea and land cables for the Hollandse Kust (South) Alpha project. The 700 MW grid connection will transmit offshore wind energy to electricity users in the Netherlands.

Caption: Cable-laying vessel Nexus - Image courtesy of Van Oord

Two wind farms with a joint capacity of 700 MW are under construction in the Hollandse Kust (South) wind farm zone, 22 kilometres off the coast of the Dutch Province of South Holland. The client, TenneT, was chosen by the Dutch government to manage the offshore grid. Its assignment for the Van Oord-Hellenic Cables consortium covers the design, the manufacture of 220 kV cables, the cable-laying operation, and connecting the wind farm to the Maasvlakte high-voltage station. The 42-kilometre-long connection will run from the offshore Alpha substation to the onshore station located at the Maasvlakte 2 area, Rotterdam.

The Van Oord-Hellenic Cables consortium has also been chosen to deliver and install cables for the Hollandse Kust (South) Beta sea cables project. This assignment includes manufacturing and laying a 66 kV marine cable between the Alpha and Beta platforms. The Hollandse Kust (South) Alpha grid connection must be ready by 2021, and the Beta in 2022.

Manon van Beek, CEO of TenneT: “With this new tender for the offshore grid, we are again, according to the Energy Agreement, taking an important next step towards more sustainable electricity production at sea. TenneT, and thus the Netherlands, is well on track with the realisation of connections for an additional 3.5 GW of extra offshore wind farms, and a total of 4.5 GW in 2023.”

“Offshore wind is an important part of the transition to sustainable energy in the Netherlands. This major offshore grid connection will bring wind energy to end users. We are excited to take on this project for TenneT with our partner Hellenic Cables,” said Pieter van Oord, CEO of Van Oord.

Alexios Alexiou, Hellenic Cables’ General Manager: “We are delighted that this prestigious offshore wind farm project was awarded to Hellenic Cables in cooperation with our partner Van Oord and driven by our combined ability to supply and timely install competitive and technologically innovative cable solutions. We are proud to contribute to the Dutch government’s goal to achieve its target of a total of 4.5GW of offshore wind energy production capacity by 2023.”